Sunday, December 13, 2009

NEW YORK'S BEGINNING TO FEEL LIKE CHRISTMAS


POLLYTALK FROM NEW YORK
By Polly Guerin
December 14, 2009

NEW YORK: IT’S BEGINNING TO FEEL LIKE CHRISTMAS

Look to the stars and fill your heart with dreaming as New York sparkles with a thousand dazzling lights, snowflakes float in the air, huge red lit bows embrace a building and the Empire State Building lights up red, green and white. For surely it is true, the holidays are here, so be of good cheer and let us celebrate this wondrous season. Here’s the scoop!!!
THE CERAMIC SHOW bows with the perfect personal touch gifts for holiday giving at the Westbeth Community Room, 155 Bank Street (between West & Washington Sts.) The Friday Night Preview on Dec. 18th gives you a first chance at the beautiful handmade ceramic bowls, platters, vases and mugs. This year there’s also a unique jewelry selection featuring pieces made of ceramic and bead also silver and precious stones. Sip a glass of wine from 6 to 9 pm and get into the holiday spirit. Sixteen local ceramic artists present original wheel and hand built one-of- a- kind pieces. Mostly the signature signed, these pieces are lasting treasures for that special person on your list or they make it a collectible purchase just for yourself. Open Saturday, Dec. 19th from 12 to 7pm.
LITTLE IMP: You’ve heard of Eloise at the Plaza well here comes HENRY AT BROOKS BROTHERS. Henry, a precocious young boy, loved shopping there so much that he hid in the racks until the store closed so that he could spend the night. This mischievous imp proceeded to dress mannequins in some of the store’s finery and even paraded around in the famed Lincoln’s jacket. Just in time for holiday shopping Henry is the character in a new children’s book, “Tales from Brooks Brothers; Henry’s Unsuitable Adventure.” written by Mike Reiss, illustrated by Dara Goldman and based on a character created by the company’s public relations director, Arthur Wayne. Visit Brooks Brothers and pick up a copy of Henry’s adventures at, 346 Madison Ave., www.brooksbrothers.org.
VINTAGE LOVERS: Remember Flair magazine, Fleur Cowles amazing magazine with pop up features and iconic design, which I wrote about in my blog amazing art deco divas? Well, Flair is still influencing the creative genre and here comes VINTAGE, a new title influenced by Flair. The print run is of only 1,500 copies with a cover price of $20, a biannual that is something of a limited edition. The premier issue is hand-bound and features quirky design elements: A story about record jackets by former Village Voice columnist Gary Giddins is presented in cutouts that resemble a 45 rpm record, and a piece on bygone hairstyles has a flip book-like construction. Launched by Ivy Baer Sherman. Barbie and Forties recipe cards round out the retro package. Sold at specialty bookstores, including Rizzoli on 57th Street in New York. Sherman alludes to the fact that people still like to sit down with a book, and Vintage proves that.”
JANE AUSTEN AT THE MORGAN: In an age when email has so often replaced the art of letter writing it is comforting to see 19th century letter writing firsthand in the Morgan Library’s exhibit of Jane Austen’s missives, “A Woman’s Wit,” now on view and through March 14th. Like Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Austen conserved precious writing paper as carefully as possible. Austen typically used a single sheet, folded in half to make four pages. However, when she ran out of room, she filled the margins, writing perpendicular to the body of the letter, and then, if she had still more to say, she would continue across her own script—EBB did the same. Austen once said, “I have now attained the true art of letter writing, which we are always told, is to express on paper exactly what one would say to the same person by word of mouth.” Treat yourself and a friend to the Morgan, 225 Madison Ave. at 36th Street. 212.685.0008. www.themorgna.org. To get further connected to Jane join the Jane Austen Society of North America JASNA 1.800.836.3911 and check out the website www.jasnaNY.org.
Well Ta Ta darlings, as you know I’m a total fan of Fleur Cowles and FLAIR so I’m off to get my premier copy of VINTAGE and cozy down in a comfortable chair with fireplace ablaze on a cold winter’s night. Fan mail to pollytalk@verizon.net or visit blogs: http://www.amazingartdecodivas.blogspot.com, http://www.thefashionhistorianpollyguerin.blogspot.com. Wishing you a very Happy Holiday!!!

Monday, December 7, 2009

NEW YORK SINGS ANGELIC CHRISTMAS MUSIC


POLLYTALK FROM NEW YORK
By Polly Guerin
December 7, 2009

NEW YORK SINGS ANGELIC CHRISMAS MUSIC
Gather snowflakes while you may, for singing fills the winter night. Listen to the melodious song Christmas will be here before too long. And have you heard the angels singing? Raising their voices all around the star lit town most events are Free and oh what glee to hear such joyous ringing of percussion, brass and bells!!! Here’s the scoop!!!
Calling all Angels!!! Let voices rise up with cheer at the 5th Annual Carol Sing with seasonal choral music for harp and strings by Houkom, Paulus & Willan at (MAPC) the Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church, Wednesday, December 16th at 7 pm, 921 Madison Avenue at 73rd Street. FREE Admission! Audience carols, poetry and readings with the Saint Andrew Chorale & Orchestra, children’s Choirs. Andrew Henderson & Mary Huff, conductors, John 7 Joyce Evans, readers. Then on December 20th THE PIPES OF CHARISTMAS features Music of the Season performed on pipes, and organ and brass. For more info: Tel: 212.288.8920; www.mapc.com.
Scandinavia lights up the holidays with the Annual Holiday Concert with (SCO) the Scandinavian Chamber Orchestra at ASF) American Scandinavian Foundation’s Scandinavia House, 58 Park Ave. (38th Street). Led by its founder Per Tengstrand and Magnus Martensson, SCO will perform classical works along with traditional Scandinavian Christmas music in a special concert that celebrates the magic of the holidays in Scandinavia. Sunday, December 13, at 4pm $25 ($15 ASF members). There’s a Swedish Children’s Christmas Workshop on December 12th at 1 pm. Children will experience how Swedes prepare for Christmas in a customary julpysseldag (Christmas craft day). They will created their own decorations and learn the secrets of making traditional holiday items like woven hearts, yarn tomtar and paper angels. Cost $6 ($4 ASF members, ages 5 to 10. www.scandinaviahouse.org. FREE is the Saturday morning storytelling with Hans Christian Anderson storytellers, Dec. 12 and Jan. 9, 11am, ages 5+. Stories and songs from Sweden by Therese Folkes-Plaire. Last chance to see the film THE LAST FARM Wed., Dec.9th, 6:30pm & Sat.,Dec, 12 3pm. Tickets $9 ($6 ASF members).
FASHION’S NIGHT OUT, Italian Style is the place to be from Dec. 10th to Dec. 22 on New York’s Madison Avenue where MADE IN ITALY features a Free shopping spree with incentives. 30 Italian luxury purveyors who have banded together with special events, charity tie-ins, discounts, and gifts-with-purchase in the holiday spirit offering incentives to encourage shopping. By invitation: Made in Italy kicks off with a VIP party Dec. 10th at the Morgan Library & Museum on Madison at 36th Street with free sparkling wine at Giorgio Armani on Madison between 65th and 66th streets, an unveiling of Fretter’s limited edition collection with Town & Country editor in chief Pamela Fiori, on Madison between 65th and 68th streets, and a cocktail party at Bric’s, on Madison between 54th and 55th Streets to support the T.J. Martell Foundation for Leukemia Cancer and AIDS research. All this and more sponsored by The Italian Trade Commission and the Madison Avenue Business Improvement District. For a VIP invite contact: rsvp@aciconani.com.
TARGET-TO-GO Comes to New York for the Holidays at Gansevoort and Washington Streets at the entrance to the High Line. Don’t get fooled it’s not a store or even a pop-up shop. It’s a façade with a list of different products to choose from. Shoppers will request products by number at the ordering window and then go to another window to pick up your purchase, which will be wrapped and ready to place under the Christmas tree. Target To-Go runs from Dec. 11th to 13th, from 10am to 8pm. WHEW!!! New York may still not have a Target, but Target-To-Go is worth the visit.
Well, Ta Ta, my darlings. I’m off to hear the angels singing and do a little holiday shopping myself. Fan mail welcome: pollytalk@verison.net. A visit to my blogs will give you greater insight into the world of pomp and circumstance. http://www.amazingartdecodivas.blogspot.com. If fashion is your passion go to http://www.thefashionhistorianpollyguerin.blogspot.com. For beauty advice from a sage of the ages go to http://www.awakenyoursleepingbeautyedgarcayce.blogspot.com. HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

Monday, November 30, 2009

NEW YORK MAKES MUSIC and MUSEUM OPENINGS

POLLYTALK FROM NEW YORK
November 30, 2009
By Polly Guerin

NEW YORK MAKES MUSIC and MULTIPLE MUSEUM OPENINGS
While New York is dressed up with holiday glitter December is rich with Holiday concerts and museum openings that fairly take your breath away. Despite the holiday rush, take time to savor the multiple exhibits the musical fare that make this season a bounty of entertainments. Here’s the scoop!!!

A HOLIDAY CONCERT by the venerable St. George’s Choral Society (founded in 1817) takes place this Saturday, December 5 at 7:30pm, at the Church of the Incarnation, Madison Avenue corner at 35th street. Join us as we celebrate with music ranging from the opulent Venetian style of Giovanni Gabrielli’s Hodie Christus natus est, scored for double choir, organ and brass to the intimate and colorful works: the haunting A Hymn to the Virgin by Benjamin Britten, and the Quatre Motets pour le Temps de Noel by Francis Poulenc. The 70 voices that make up St. George’s Choral Society will perform these masterworks in the historic landmark church in Murray Hill with organ, brass and percussion. The grand cantata by Vaughn Williams, Hodie, features guest soloists Anneliese van Goerken, soprano; James Archie Worley, tenor: David Krohn, baritone; Andrew Yeargin at the renovated Aeolian-Skinner organ with the dynamic conducting of artistic director, Matthew Lewis. $25 at the door. Advance reservations $5 discount at http://www.stgeorgeschoralsociety.org/ or email stgeorgeschoralsociety@yahoo.com.
NIGHT & DAY…You are the one who might just want to put the exhibit Night & Day on your agenda, opening Dec. 3 to May 11, 2010 in the Fashion and Textile History Gallery at The Museum at FIT. The exhibit with more than 100 garments, textiles, and accessories by master designers illustrates how the rules for proper attire have shifted over the past 250 years. FREE no charge. Then catch “AMERICAN STYLE,” The Museum at FIT’S eighth annual symposium, American Beauty: Aesthetics and Innovation in Fashion, Dec. 4 & 5, 9:30 am to 5pm each day. $100 for both days. Designers, scholars, authors and curators discuss fashion of the Americas and explore themes ranging from the diversity of the American fashion industry to the unique characteristics of New York fashion. Where? On the second floor of FIT’s Marvin Feldman Center on West 27th St. between 7th & 8th Avenues. Information line: 212.217.4558.
THE VINTAGE WOMAN: A Century of Costume Jewelry in America 1910-2010 is a glittering gem of a fascinating story that came to life in a turbulent century darkened by two world wars and the Great Depression---indeed, times remarkably relevant to today. Master jewelers fled from Europe with little more than their tools and talent. With glass in lieu of gemstones, and pot metal substituting for gold, they created magnificently crafted jewelry so matchless in design that fine jewelry pales in comparison. View masterpieces by legendary designers Elsa Schiaparelli, Coco Chanel, Hattie Carnegie and Henry a la Pensee to name a few, plus costume jewelry houses Trifari, Coro, Ciner and Kenneth Jay Lane. At THE FORBES GALLERIES, a rare museum treasure at 62 Fifth Ave, corner of 12th St. Closed Mondays and 10 to 4pm on Tues.,Wed., Fri., Sat. Group tours on Thursdays by reservation. FREE no charge. To confirm that the galleries are open call 212.206.5548 the morning of your visit. Don’t miss the Highland Gallery with 8 glass panels designed by Jean Dupas for the Grand Salon of the Normandie, as well as other Art Deco fittings. http://www.forbesgalleries.com/.
Discover VELAZQUEZ at The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s new exhibit “Velazquez Rediscovered,” a special exhibition features a newly identified painting by Velazquez, Portrait of a Man. It will be shown alongside other works from the Museum’s superior collection of works by the great Spanish painter. On view to Feb. 7, 2010. Drumming their way into history are an ancient view on music and communication in “Sounding the Pacific: Musical instruments of Oceania, the first exhibition devoted to the subject ever mounted by an art museum, it features musical instruments and the many different roles they play, or played, in Pacific cultures, from announcing the onset of war to embodying the voices of supernatural beings or softly enticing a lover. This fascinating exhibit from small flutes and whistles to massive split gongs where thundering beats can carry for miles is worth a visit. These exhibits are featured on the Museum’s website: http://www.metmuseum.org/.
Ta Ta dear readers!!! I’m quite overwhelmed by all the joyful events in New York City, but best of all I will be singing in the chorus at the Holiday Concert by the St. George’s Choral Society Dec. 5th. Do come, it’s going to be such gorgeous singing. Fan mail goes to pollytalk@verizon.net and you can visit my blogs http://www.amazingartdecodivas.blogspot.com/ or http://www.awakenyoursleepingbeautyedgarcayce.blogspot.com/.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

HAPPY THANKSGIVING AND A THANKFUL HEART


PollyTalk From New York
November 23, 2009
By Polly Guerin

THANKSGIVING IN POETIC NEW YORK
It would not be Thanksgiving without the Macy’s Day Parade and so as we celebrate this season of turning home- ward, let’s appreciate the good things in life and give thanks for the bounty of wealth, health and gratitude for all that we have shared and with a thankful heart wish each other Happy Thanksgiving. Instead of happenings I give you “Things I am Thankful For.” Here’s the scoop!!!

THINGS I AM THANKFUL FOR © by Polly Guerin

Once dressed in autumn blaze
the trees enter a silent phase

Piles of crisp leaves cover the ground
a walk in the woods, a crackling sound

Flocks of geese honking goodbye overhead
the frost of winter nips us instead

Pumpkin lanterns take over the porch
the night sky star-kissed like a torch

Hot apple cider and cinnamon stick
cozy by the fireplace lickety-split

The giggle of children taken by surprise
ogling baked pumpkin and lush pecan pies

Time to tell stories under a comfy quilt
or snooze like a babe without any guilt

Snuggle with a book to distant lands
rock away daydreams they'll understand

You're storing up memories to keep
watching the twilight before you sleep

With so much to be thankful for
how can I improve the score?

Thanksgiving is only the start
Give thanks and blessing from the heart.

TaTa darlings!!! I'll be posting again on Monday after Thanksgiving with lots of events you won't want to miss. Keep in touch www.pollytalk.com or visit my blogs www.amazingartdecodivas and www.thefashionhistorianpollyguerin, both @blogspot.com. Fan mail to: pollytalk@verison.net.